Clerks recall terror as shooting unfolded

Friday

Feb 15, 2013 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - Two women working at a gas station Thursday described the harrowing scene that unfolded inside and outside their store a day earlier when police shot a fugitive wanted for a DUI traffic collision that injured two California Highway Patrol officers.

Jason Anderson

STOCKTON - Two women working at a gas station Thursday described the harrowing scene that unfolded inside and outside their store a day earlier when police shot a fugitive wanted for a DUI traffic collision that injured two California Highway Patrol officers.

When the shooting occurred shortly after noon Wednesday, the women were inside the store in the 1600 block of West Fremont Street with six customers, including two young boys. Officers fired multiple shots at Nathaniel Smith, 43, as he attempted to carjack a Ford Expedition in the parking lot, authorities said. The sound of gunshots triggered a momentary state of panic inside the store, said the employees, each of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared for their safety.

"We heard shots, and all my customers ducked," one employee said. "One lady threw her son back inside the store. Another lady grabbed her son and put him behind the beer and told him to get down. It scared the crap out of me. I've never heard gunshots before, so it freaked me out."

Smith was shot at least once and underwent surgery at a hospital, where he was listed in critical but stable condition Thursday, police said. Smith's mother, Katherine Smith, said she was given little information and not permitted to see her son again Thursday.

"I'll be on the hospital steps protesting (today)," she said. "If my son dies and I don't get to see him, I'm going to be very angry."

Nathaniel Smith was sentenced to nine years in prison after an April 3, 2010, DUI collision with a CHP patrol car left two officers seriously injured, but he failed to surrender to authorities, police said. Police sent out news releases in recent weeks seeking the public's help in apprehending Smith, and on Wednesday they received a call advising them that Smith was at a home in the 1200 block of West Harding Way.

One officer spotted Smith getting into an Oldsmobile Bravada driven by a pregnant woman, identified by police as 31-year-old Natasha Whitfield. Another officer attempted to stop the Bravada as it traveled south on North Pershing Avenue, police said.

Smith exited the vehicle, ran up an embankment and crossed eight lanes of traffic on Interstate 5 before barreling down the embankment on the other side of the freeway toward the gas station's parking lot, authorities said. It was then that one of the gas station employees saw Smith coming down the embankment.

"He was rolling down the hill on his side," she said. "I always look up there, because I've seen kids up there playing before. I just thought it was a grown man being an idiot."

When Smith reached the parking lot, he attempted to steal a silver sport utility vehicle, police said. Authorities said witnesses told them Smith shouted that he had a gun, but he was unarmed, police said. He was inside the vehicle on the passenger's side when he was shot, witnesses said.

The gas station's parking lot was cordoned off by yellow crime scene tape, and surrounding streets were closed for hours as law enforcement officials investigated as part of a multiagency protocol investigation into the shooting. Witnesses who were inside and outside the store were taken to the Police Department to be interviewed. The gas station didn't reopen until about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, employees said.

"It was scary," one of the employees said. "I've never experienced anything like that."